Dragon Peak (about 13000') 8.2.08

A hike from Onion Valley to upper Golden Trout Lakes and then a scramble up to Dragon Peak from the Lakes. The GPS shows it as a 9.4 round-trip with almost 5000' gain due to all the ups and downs I added along the ridge - I made my way up the SE ridge more or less - I spent some time over on the north side of the ridge before crossing back over to the south side up near the summit. I believe most people go all the way up to the headwall at the end of the wide chute that you take from the upper lake and then they pick up a loose chute that brings you up the south side of Dragon, but I climbed out of the chute before the headwall and headed up the SE ridge more or less - I topped out on the ridge east of Dragon Peak and traversed over to near where the final crack is from there. On the way down I dropped down a number of times to look at alternative routes to take back down into the wide talus/boulder filled chute, but I ended up taking the same route down as I went up. It turned out to be a beautiful day with a nice soft breeze, so it was a perfect day for taking my time and playing with a used camera I picked up recently.